Treefall: Hong Kong government departments face criticism following tree felling
Governor for Alliance for a Beautiful Hong Kong says two trees have been cut down in Mid-Levels over past two years
Alarm bells have been sounded after two mature trees were felled on Bowen Road in Mid-Levels in apparent contravention of government guidelines.
The issue has been raised by local resident Melanie Moore, a governor for the Alliance for a Beautiful Hong Kong, who said she first alerted the government after noticing a tree along the popular public fitness path had been heavily pruned in 2014.
Over the course of two years, Moore contacted the Lands Department and the Tree Management Office to inform them the tree was being improperly pruned.
She was told the tree was within land that was temporarily allocated to the Water Supplies Department (WSD) – due to water main replacement work – and they would follow up on the matter.
In email correspondence seen by the Post, the WSD conducted an investigation and concluded that the pruning had not been carried out by the department or its contractor. The investigation also ruled out the Highways Department, which was also carrying out work in the area.
The WSD could not identify who carried out the improper tree pruning, but promised to supervise the contractor.
The tree was then completely felled.
Last month Moore saw that another tree, close to the first felled tree, had been “well pruned” and alerted various government departments again.
A reply from an estate surveyor for the Wan Chai District Lands Office said the land which the tree occupied was in an area temporarily allocated to the WSD or fell within unleased government land, making the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) responsible for the tree.
Moore warned the departments that they needed to handle the case urgently as she believed someone was in the process of chopping down the tree entirely.
When she visited the site on June 25, Moore was horrified to see that the giant tree had been reduced to a stump.
Moore hit out at the various departments in an email, saying she had alerted them for months and the “departments did absolutely nothing”.
A spokesman for the WSD said they had been patrolling the site on a daily basis since June 25, in order to try and catch anyone carrying out tree pruning or felling.
Because the 30-foot tree is surrounded by fencing and barbed-wire, Moore wondered if the occupants of the house next to the tree were responsible for the felling, as the only access seemed to be through the house. But the home owner denied any involvement after being contacted by the contractor and the WSD.
However, spokesmen for the WSD and the Lands Department confirmed that the site was on unallocated government land and responsibility fell solely with the AFCD.
A spokeswoman for the AFCD said it had inspected the site and was “investigating the suspected unauthorised tree felling on government land under the Forests and Countryside Ordinance”.
No department has stated whether it will replant the tree, but Moore is not optimistic that they will do so.
“From prior experience, government policy for unallocated government land is that they do not conduct replanting,” she said.
“And that’s even in cases where government departments themselves fell a tree. They will pay somebody to fell the tree, they will not replant the tree.”
Last year, there was public uproar after four century-old Chinese banyan trees were felled on Bonham Road in Sai Ying Pun. The government cited safety concerns as a reason for the sudden removal after another century-old Chinese banyan tree crashed down, injuring two people.
